Robotic grippers are multi-fingered automated devices capable of grasping and manipulating objects. A typical robotic gripper includes a robot arm having two or more moveable end effectors, e.g., jointed fingers/thumbs or rigid, non jointed pinchers. The end effectors move via actuation of one or more robotic joints. The fingers of some types of robotic grippers are remotely connected to a corresponding actuator via a length of flexible tendon, which is kept taut to within a calibrated tension level. The tendon is then transitioned to a higher tension level in order to actuate a given finger or thumb. The use of tendon-driven end effectors in a given robotic gripper, whether in the form of a single robot arm or a high degree of freedom autonomous robot, can reduce the overall size and weight of the gripper relative to conventional designs.